In 1887 not one but two England teams toured Australia, what Wisden cryptically described as ‘a never to be repeated act of folly’.
The confusion was made possible by the fact that English cricket lacked any formal unified structure at the time, meaning that any promoter could form a team as they deemed fit.
Shrewsbury’s XI and was effectively a team made up of amateurs and professionals, with the eponymous Arthur Shrewsbury acting as player/manager.
G.F. Vernon’s XI were a mixture of amateurs and professionals, assembled by Lord Hawke after he received an invitation from the Melbourne Cricket Club.
Both teams played a variety of domestic matches, including two each against Combined Australia sides. These matches were not accorded Test match status.
However, one timeless Test (matches played for as long as it took to obtain a definitive result) was played featuring players from both touring teams. This was recognised as an official Ashes match.
It was staged in Sydney in February 1888. Australia won the toss and invited England to bat first. Initially it seemed a wise decision as the tourists were bowled out for just 113, despite 44 from Shrewsbury himself. Charlie Turner took 5-44 and J.J. Ferris 4-60.
But Australia were bowled out for 42, one of the lowest scores in Test match history, George Lohmann taking 5-17 and Bobby Paul 5-18.
That gave England a lead of 71 on first innings, which they set about extending by making 137 the second time that they batted, Maurice Read top scoring with 39. Turner took 7-43 that time.
Set 209 to win, Australia got nowhere near their target. Instead, they were bowled out for 82, a score that might have been even lower had Jack Blackburn not made a defiant 25 not out.
This time Lohmann and Peel claimed four wickets apiece, the other two falling to William Attewell.
England won by 126 runs in what was the only official Test match during two different tours.